Winter weather won’t last

Temps set to rise throughout week

October 9, 2012

Mikey Moore had one question for Mother Nature Monday as he worked behind the desk at the Elkins/Randolph County YMCA - where did fall go?

Moore, who hovered close to his space heater, said Monday's unseasonably chilly temperatures had convinced him that winter was on its way - or already here. Had he somehow missed autumn, he wondered?

"We've gone straight from summer into winter," the YMCA employee said. "We had no fall; we had no spring."

Article Photos

The Inter-Mountain photo by Katie Kuba Jenna and Aidan Lowther brave bone-chilling drizzle and temperatures in the high 30s Monday afternoon as they hurry down Fourth Street, en route to somewhere warmer.

As a slow but steady rain fell over north central West Virginia Monday, temperatures dropped to 39 degrees. Local residents even reported sprinklings of snow in Mill Creek and Davis.

Despite Moore's fears that winter was already here, Greg Guillot, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, said warmer weather was on the horizon.

"Temperatures are obviously going to warm up from [Monday] to the upper 50s and lower 60s until the weekend," Guillot said Monday. "Over the weekend, you're going to see temperatures in the upper 60s and even the lower 70s on Saturday and Sunday."

Using data from the Climate Prediction Center, a branch of NWS, Guillot said the mid region of the Mountain State may have a mild winter, temperature wise.

"At this point, there is a better chance - and I say 'chance' intentionally - of above normal temperatures," Guillot said. "All the way into spring, there's generally going to be a better chance of above normal temperatures." Precipitation levels look average, according to the CPC's six-month outlook, he added.

The weather had no effect on public schools or government agencies because both were closed Monday for Columbus Day. However, low temperatures and a faulty heat system forced the Elkins Rotary Club to move its meeting from the YMCA to First United Methodist Church in order to keep Rotarians warm.